When will Pa. act on cellphone driving ban?

This week at Harrisburg Mall — not far from the state Capitol — a bunch of teenagers and their parents and grandparents attempted to drive an obstacle course set up by Allstate Insurance while talking on the phone and texting.

No one made it through the course without hitting a cone or inflatable obstacle representing other cars, curbs and pedestrians. There were many laughs, but the point was made yet again: driving and texting or driving and calling don’t mix.

Everyone knows the truth about cellphones and driving, yet people still use them on the road. That’s why Pennsylvania needs a formal ban.

For at least four years, state lawmakers have proposed and debated laws to ban hand-held cellphone use while driving, but nothing has been done. Numerous cities, including Harrisburg, have been so frustrated with the state’s inaction that they passed their own bans, but these have had little impact. It’s too easy to wiggle out of a ticket by claiming ignorance of local laws.

This isn’t a partisan issue. A March 2009 Quinnipiac University study found that 85 percent of Pennsylvanians would support a ban.

There is finally a bright light at the end of the distracted driving tunnel. While there are 10 bills in the Legislature that would ban various forms of driving distractions, one of them recently passed the Senate and has a decent chance of being made into law.

This bill by Sen. Robert Tomlinson (R-Bucks County) would ban hand-held cellphone use for all drivers and any type of cellphone use for drivers under 18. It passed the Senate on June 8, and is awaiting action in the House. It also would limit the amount of passengers teens can have in the car and make not wearing a seat belt while driving a primary offense for 16- and 17-year-old drivers.

These are common-sense principles backed up by statistical and anecdotal evidence. Using a hand-held cellphone inhibits a driver’s ability to react just as much having a blood-alcohol level of .08, or being legally drunk. This bill should be fast-tracked to the governor’s desk.

It is interesting that this legislation has taken so long to pass, given how quickly a bath salts ban was passed when a year ago few had even heard of this problem.

Distracted driving affects not just the driver, but everyone else on the road. It is just as important as a bath salts ban, if not more so. Surrounding states — Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Maryland — have all passed similar legislation.

Now that the state budget is done, lawmakers should have fewer distractions of their own and a clearer road to deal with this long overdue safety issue.